Posts Tagged Cloud computing
vSphere management GOing to the cloud?
Posted by martijn in Cloud computing, Tools, Virtualization on January 18, 2010
Last week VMware launches its new product: VMware Go. This is a product that is specifically targeted at the SMB market. A clever move by VMware to expand its market share of virtualization in the SMB segment. VMware already is the market leader in virtualization when it comes to enterprise companies. But in the SMB segment has competitors like Microsoft’s Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer or RedHats KVM.
Not only cost is a factor that stops SMB companies from entering the path of virtualization. Also the lack of resources and knowledge about virtualization is something most SMB companies don’t have. With Go VMware tries to simplify the proces of virtualization. It provides a management interface to VMware ESXi from the Go cloud.
Eric Sloof over at NTPRO.NL points to a YouTube video where Dave McCrory, founder and CTO of Hyper9, explains how VMware Go works.
The picture above shows the same explanation of VMware Go as Dave McCrory gives in his video. What shows is that management takes place, through a web interface, from the workstation where the administrator is located. Everything will be managed from the VMware Go cloud. The ESXi hosts are connected to the Go cloud by installing a proxy admin desktop. This desktop will service the Go cloud a management interface for the ESXi host.
This is a rather new concept of managing servers. Normally a client-server management model is applied to this kind of infrastructure services. VMware vCenter, the current management tool for vSphere infrastructures, is an example of a this type of management model.
The question is : Is this the first of step into moving vSphere management into the cloud?
This may seem like a far fetched idea, but is it? We are now living in the world of cloud computing. Lets look at the same picture as above, but introduce the vCloud concept into this equation.
Here you can see the same concept as the picture above. The proxy desktop has been replaced by an VMware Go Proxy appliance which is for managing the ESXi host in you (local) private vSphere cloud. There is a connection between the Private vSphere cloud and the vCloud(s) provided the various VMware hosting partners. All this can be managed from a central point : the VMware Go cloud.
If the name will still be the same isn’t important, call it vCenter Cloud Edition (CE), it doesn’t matter. What does matter is the fact that you now have central point of management to control your hybrid cloud. Not only can you manage your private cloud, but from the same interface you can manage you various vCloud partners (or even non-VMware) cloud services. This makes the VMware vCenter Cloud Edition a cloud broker to manage all your IaaS cloud services. Maybe even with integration to manage PaaS or SaaS solution. One cloud to rule them all 
Will this become reality? Only time will tell.
My personal opion: I like the idea of cloud brokers. I don’t think that one (cloud) provider / solution can serve all the cloud services needed by a company. So in my opinion cloud brokers will become the next battleground in cloud land. That’s why I like the idea of a central management cloud broker solution. That’s why I like the idea of a vSphere vCenter Cloud Edition.
What do you think?
Cloud from an end-user perspective
Posted by martijn in Cloud computing on January 15, 2010
“I don’t want to care” is probably one of the main reasons end-users want to move to cloud services besides of course IT costs.
Over the last couple of decades IT more and more has become entangled within our daily lives. In our work, at home, in the streets; IT is everywhere. We are more depended on IT services then we think.
The thing is we don’t want is to care about IT. IT should be there like electricity, tap water or mailman dropping the “oldskool snailmail” in the mailbox. All examples of services that we take for granted and which we don’t think about. It’s delivered to us according to when we expect it, either being on-demand or on a pre-fined schedule. How these services are organized or how it works is something most end-users don’t care about.
Same goes for cloud services. End-users don’t want to care about IT, they just want to consume it. End-users in this context can be anybody, corparate or personal, as long as they use the cloud service. But the technology that lies behind of these cloud services is of no interest to them. If the technology isn’t important to the end-user, what is?
The things that end-users look for IT cloud services can be brought down to 3 points :
- Performance; Either being a local software program on their personal computer or a cloud service, it doesn’t matter as long as it performs to the expectation of the end-users.
- Availability; If you buy a service you want to use it whenever you need it. A big frustration is not being able to use that service at the moment you need it. A cloud app can have 99,9% uptime, but that 1 hour the cloud service was down at the moment that users needed it the most, will result in a negative experience with the end user.
- Security; Data is new oil in this information era. And personal data of end-users is on top of the data list. End-users want to be sure that whatever data is put into the cloud doesn’t leave the cloud without their permission. They want to have full control over their data.
So whenever thinking about cloud computing and what matters, take into account the end-user and the 3 points above which matters to them!
Cloud in your Pocket
Posted by martijn in Cloud computing, Tools on September 7, 2009
Wyse created an application for a VMware View / RDP client for the iPhone. An app giving the user full control over his virtual desktop through his / her iPhone. Resulting in the ability to access the cloud from your pocket through your mobile device.
This concept isn’t new, but Wyse made such an incredible app that it’s really easy to perform actions while connected to your desktop. Easy to use also on such a small screen!
Watch the video created by Richard Garsthagen made at VMworld to see it in action.
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud
Posted by martijn in Cloud computing on September 5, 2009
Amazon has managed to create a solution that lets your private cloud directly connect to their public cloud via a service called Virtual Private Cloud. Through gateways on both enda secure VPN connection is setup enabling the connection between the two clouds.
The concept behind this new service is great. It really lets you extent your private cloud with all the nice features that the public cloud has to offer, but then as a private section in the Amazon public EC2 cloud.
This opens up the possibilities of cloud extension such as :
- Cloud burst; Being able to add extra capacity to your cloud without having to add more hardware to your private cloud
- Lab Cloud; Not using capacity in your private cloud for testing purposes. Enabling this in a Virtual Private Cloud.
- Business Continuity Cloud; In case of a disaster / failure of your private cloud continue your services in a Virtual Privat Cloud.
As you can see there are a lot of possibilities for adding “public private cloud” to your private cloud. Thing is that it needs to be easy to connect to, which in my opinion Amazon did by adding commonly used gateways (Checkpoint, Juniper, Vyatta, etc. ). The thing that worries me is the bandwidth that is needed between the internal private cloud and Amazons Virtual Private Cloud. Ah well, it’s a first step. Lets see what the future brings us.
Fo more information on the Virtual Private Cloud by Amazon go here.
RedHat launching Broker for Cloud Computing
Posted by martijn in Cloud computing, News on September 5, 2009
RedHat has launched a new open-source project in relation to Cloud Computing : the Delta Cloud. It can be seen as a cloud broker between the end-user access device and the various clouds computing solutions today. Currently each cloud provider is introducing it’s own API to interact with. RedHat’s Delta Cloud now tries to fill this gap by introducing a open-source project which will act as a doorway to multiple clouds. Currently public clouds like Amazons EC2 and solutions based on RedHat Enterprise Virtualization based private clouds are supported. Support for VMware based private clouds and Rackspace will be added soon.
For more information about the subject go to the Deltacloud projet site here.
Purpose of this Delta Cloud is to protect applications agains “cloud API changes and incompatibilities”. It should create a an ecosystem of developers, tools, scripts and applications that can interoperate across the public and private clouds available today. For example : You can start building applications build through the Delta Cloud API in your private cloud. And without any changes move this application to a public cloud. Interoperability in your hands!
vCloud Express: Easy, pay-as-you-go IaaS
Posted by martijn in Cloud computing, News, Virtualization on September 1, 2009
VMware today announced the vCloud Express. The new type of service allows customers to get on-demand, pay-as-you-go Infrastructure as a Service. Several leading Virtual Service Providers (VSP) like Terremark, Bluelock, Hosting.com and Melbourne IT have adopted this technology and have currently several products in beta. Look here for more information.
Introducing VMware vCloud™ Express
VMware is today introducing VMware vCloud™ Express, a new class of service that will deliver reliable, on-demand, pay-as-you go compute as a service. Built on the industry’s leading and most complete virtualization platform, VMware vSphere™, VMware vCloud™ Express will enable customers to start with VMware vCloud™ Express and grow into full enterprise-class cloud environments with highly available and service level guarantees when they are ready to move into production. Unlike other on-demand cloud solutions, VMware vCloud™ Express will give developers quick access to a pay-as-you-go infrastructure that is compatible with in-house VMware virtualized IT environments—making the interoperability and portability of applications from external development to internal deployment easy. With VMware vCloud™ Express, customers will have the flexibility to leverage IT resources when they need it and pay for only what they use.
VMware vCloud™ Express will be available through many leading service providers including Terremark, BlueLock, Hosting.com, Logica, and Melbourne IT. These service providers are launching beta releases of their services today. To try VMware vCloud™ Express, find your preferred provider by going to: www.vmware.com/vcloudexpress.
“By leveraging VMware’s best-in-breed virtualization technologies and our vast experience providing solutions to enterprise and Federal government customers, our vCloud ™Express offering will provide customers a uniquely differentiated, cost-effective platform that meets their IT infrastructure needs,” said Manuel D. Medina, chairman and chief executive officer, Terremark. “Terremark’s vCloud™ Express services will provide our customers pay-as-you-go, on-demand access to enterprise-class infrastructure that is flexible enough to offer unmatched compatibility with their own internal IT platforms.”
What this really means is that you can now connect your virtual infrastructure, running vSphere, with the VSP(s) of your choice. Expansion of your infrastructure is now available just by going to a website, registering with your credit card and selecting your type of service. No more, no less. You connect your vSphere setup with the service have expanded your virtual capacity. Easy does it!
Well not entirely true. It’s still in beta and it won’t be perfect at first. But in general I like the product. It makes Cloud Computing, especially IaaS, more understandable and will help get Cloud Computing out of the “hype cycle” and into the realistic world of IT we live in. It’s not a product supported by one vendor, but also has a broad eco-system of service providers attached to it and it propagates interoperability which, in my opinion, is one of the key factors of making Cloud Computing a success!
Long Distance vMotion by Cisco & VMware
Posted by martijn in Cloud computing, Virtualization on September 1, 2009
Cisco and VMware are currently working on a new technology called Long Distance vMotion. This makes it possible to move application workloads between multiple datacenters without any downtime. The vMotion technology is already available within VMware vSphere. It is used to migrate one VM from one host to another or wit Storage vMotion move the VMs data from one storage location to another. This with the machine being fully operable and available to the end-user.
The changing model of data center management and provisioning allows VMware VMotion to be used for several purposes without violating the application SLAs.
● Data center maintenance without downtime: Applications on a server or data center infrastructure requiring maintenance can be migrated offsite without downtime.
● Disaster avoidance: Data centers in the path of natural calamities (such as hurricanes) can proactively migrate the mission-critical application environments to another data center.
● Data center migration or consolidation: Migrate applications from one data center to another without business downtime as part of a data center migration or consolidation effort.
● Data center expansion: Migrate virtual machines to a secondary data center as part of data center expansion to address power, cooling, and space constraints in the primary data center.
● Workload balancing across multiple sites: Migrate virtual machines between data centers to provide compute power from data centers closer to the clients (“follow the sun”) or to load-balance across multiple sites. Enterprises with multiple sites can also conserve power and reduce cooling costs by dynamically consolidating virtual machines into fewer data centers (automated by VMware Dynamic Power Management [DPM]), another feature enabling the green data center of the future.
In these cases the secondary cloud can be provided by a service provider through a “virtual private cloud” connected to your “internal cloud”. Bringing down the TCO of your server infrastructure, using capacity in the secondary datacenter only when you need it and making use of a pay-per-use model for the consumed capacity. So this technology is a real cloud enabler!
For more information about this technology can be found here. Written by Omar Sultan.
Read the paper on this subject created by Cisco and VMware here.
VMware opens the door to the vCloud
Posted by martijn in Cloud computing, News, Virtualization on August 31, 2009
Today the Technology Preview version (0.8) of the vCloud API was released. This opens the door to build your own cloud based upon proven VMware technology. This is the next step of VMware entering the Cloud Computing arena.
Who is the vCloud API targeted towards?
The vCloud API is targeted towards developers and IT Admins across our service provider, ISV and enterprise customer community
What are some key distinguishing characteristics of the vCloud API?
This API opens the cloud to application vendors, service providers and enterprise IT. Simplifying the way applications are deployed and managed within the cloud.
For more information see the VMware vCloud Deverloper Forum where you can also find a FAQ, documentation and a forum to discuss the vCloud.
What’s the deal with Cloud Computing?
Posted by martijn in Cloud computing, Education, General on August 30, 2009
Well it’s going to be big (and is already being hyped as such). It’ll be a paradigm shift in the world of IT as we know it. But as I explained in an earlier post: we still have a long way to go before it’ll be mainstream. Cloud Computing is the come together of multiple technologies that already exist. It can be compared to a chemical reaction : Every component is there, we are now in the process to evolve to a new level in IT.
Defining Cloud Computing seems to be something that nobody can agree upon. Here goes mine:
Cloud Computing is an IT model which allows business to scale IT capabilities in such a way that it suits the needs at any time. This can be realized real-time through on-demand self-service. It will be delivered as-a-service anytime, anywhere and will be paid per use afterwards.
Such a definition can be broken down into 4 characteristics that build up Cloud Computing:
- Elastic & dynamic infrastructure; The infrastructure on which Cloud Computing is build should be able to handle the ever changing demand from business. In such in needs to be elastic and dynamic to supply this demand. Virtualization is the method to provide this flexibility.
- On-demand self service; Business needs to have the ability to self service their needs real-time. Controls should be provided that service this need without the help of external parties.
- Location independent; End-users should be able to access the service anytime, anywhere. Internet is the highway that will connect the service to standard input devices.
- Pay per use; A consumption model must be in place where one pays for the services that have been provided to them. No more, no less. Just the capacity that has be used should be billed afterwards.
For more information look at the following information sources :
NIST Working Definition Of Cloud Computing
Maria Spinola – An Essential Guide to Possibilities and Risks of Cloud Computing (whitepaper)
Burton Group – Cloud Computing: Transforming IT (whitepaper / needs free registration)
Beyond the Hype of Cloud Computing
Posted by martijn in Cloud computing on August 18, 2009
As we all have noticed Cloud Computing has become the next best thing that has hit IT in a long time. Every company all of a sudden has a product that is “in the cloud”. It’s good to see that a lot of companies are boarding the train, but it also results in confusion and a feeling that is “it’s just to good to be true”.
This can also be seen in Gartner Hype Cycle for Cloud Computing. Cloud Computing is currently at the top op the so called “Peak of Inflated Expectations”. It has been hyped by the IT industry and is indeed generating a lot of expectations. As Gartner predicts this will eventually result in “disillusionment”. Thinking that it’s just one of those “IT things” that will eventually fade away and be replaced by another big hype.
It will however become mainstream in next 2 to 5 years. Evolving into mature business model for provisioning IT services. The “fog” surrounding Cloud Computing will eventually clear the sky. Till that time follow the next simple rules:
- Proceed with caution; Don’t believe everything that is said / written about Cloud Computing. There is a lot of rubbish out there. Rational thinking is the key.
- Inform yourself; Knowledge is power! Gather as much information as possible about the subject. But again Proceed with Caution!
- Fit it into your strategy; No rush! But Cloud Computing should eventually fit into your IT strategy. Keep it in mind making future decisions.
- Your not the only one; There are more people / companies out there dealing with the same “cloud”. Talking amongst peers helps a lot in generating your own vision regarding “cloud computing”.
